Finding my romantic bone

Finding my romantic bone

Rumour has it that I’m a closet romantic. Now, I’m not particularly keen to peddle such sacrilegious nonsense; in fact, I’ll have you know that though I love puppies and kittens, I don’t like flowers and pink and heart-shaped things. Sometimes I like mushy songs—I usually put that down to PMS—but I hate romcoms with a vengeance, have never read a Mills & Boon, and hate chicklit.

That, I do hope, provides a context to the following news: I have a contribution in a forthcoming anthology of love stories for young adults. It’s called Music of the Stars and Other Love Stories, published by Scholastic. My story is called ‘Secret Admirer’ and is partly autobiographical.

Writing this story might have helped me overcome my fear of dipping my toes in the pink mush. That doesn’t mean I’m switching genres from fantasy to romance, but it has made me keen to resolve a romantic angle from the Shadow in Eternity series in book 4. It has also given me the glimmerings of an idea for a new YA book…